Tag: overcomers

Do Not Love This World

Do Not Love This World

The Bible gives us some helpful information about the world that we live in, and we do well to pay attention to it.

No one can serve two masters, because either he will hate one and love the other, or be loyal to one and despise the other.  (Mt 6:24 ISV)

The wisdom of the Scriptures is apparent here in reminding us that no one can serve two masters.  If we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer, then we serve only Him.  To try to do otherwise is folly.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.  (1 Joh 2:15 NIV)

We’re advised that we should not love the world or anything in the world.  This is not speaking about people, but about material things and the world’s way of valuing what is important. 

The most important thing in life is to serve the Lord and to maintain a vital and living relationship with the Lord Jesus.

. . . for whoever is born of God overcomes the world, and the victory that overcomes the world is our faith.  (1 Joh 5:4 MEV)

We’re reminded that we who have accepted Christ as our Savior are born of God, and we are overcomers!  Glory to God!  What do we overcome?  The world and its systems and its empty values.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  (Joh 16:33 NIV) Jesus is speaking to us in this verse above in John 16.  He says that in this world we’ll have trouble.  But He reminds us that He has overcome the world.  It is Jesus’ victory that makes His followers overcomers.  Rejoice in this truth today.

Enduring Faith Through Temptation & Testing

Enduring Faith Through Temptation & Testing

As believers in Jesus Christ, we must learn to persevere and to prevail in faith even in the midst of trials, temptations, and testing.  The grace of God will carry us through such times if only we rely upon the Lord.

The Scriptures talk frequently about the ways in which we will face tribulations, adversity, and hardships in our walk of faith.  And to the overcomers, the Lord will give a crown of life.  Praise God!

My brothers and sisters, think of the various tests you encounter as occasions for joy. 3 After all, you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 Let this endurance complete its work so that you may be fully mature, complete, and lacking in nothing.  (Jas 1:2-4 CEB)

Such difficult and painful life encounters produce a tenacious and durable faith.  Exactly what we need for life on this earth.

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.  (Jas 1:12 NKJV)

When we come through temptation victoriously, we will have tasted and experienced the sustaining grace of God at work in our lives.

You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.  (Mt 10:22 NIV)

Expect to be hated and persecuted, because Jesus also experienced such treatment.

You greatly rejoice in this, even though you have to suffer various kinds of trials for a little while, 7 so that your genuine faith, which is more valuable than gold that perishes when tested by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus, the Messiah, is revealed.  (1 Pet 1:6, 7 ISV)

Our faith is more precious than gold; and just like gold, our faith is tested and tried in order to purify, concentrate, and refine it.  Our coming through testing triumphantly results in glory and honor being given to Jesus.  What an honor!

How Can God Help Our Unbelief?

How Can God Help Our Unbelief?

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” 

24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”  (Mk 9:23-24)

This father, who needed a miracle for his child, told Jesus that he believed but asked that the Lord help his unbelief.  What a contradictory statement, right?

The man had heard that Jesus was traveling around and healing people.  So, faith in what he had heard about Jesus motivated the father to find Jesus and to ask Him to pray for his son, who needed deliverance. 

However, the man realized that he needed Jesus’ help to believe that the will of God could actually be accomplished in his and his son’s lives.  Suddenly, his heart and mind were full of questions:  “Will this really happen for us?  Will God give us a miracle?  Maybe we’re not worthy?”

The reality of being human is acknowledging that doubts and fears attack us at the most inopportune times.  But we don’t have to listen to them! 

Here are some ideas for living as the overcomers that Christ intends us to be.  If you follow these suggestions, you will allow God to help you to defeat fear and unbelief.

  • Knowing the Will of God Will Squash Unbelief – So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Rom 10:17) As we read the Bible, our faith grows and increases.  Since this is the truth, read the Word of God daily.  Hang on to the promises of God by faith every single day.  Don’t give up and don’t get weary in reading the Word and in filling yourself with the power that resides within the Word of the Living God.
  • Reject Fear and Put Unbelief on the Run – Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God . . . (Phil 4:6) The Bible says that fear has torment and that perfect love drives out fear. (1 Joh 4:18)  The Word of God clearly says to RESIST the devil and he will flee from you.  (Jas 4:7)  Don’t be fearful or anxious; don’t open the door of your mind to the enemy of your soul.  He has no power over you because you belong to Jesus Christ. 
  • Overcome Unbelief by Believing in God’s Love – And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. (1 Joh 4:16) He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 Joh 4:8)  Our God IS love—He says so in His Word!  Jesus loves each one of us perfectly and unconditionally.  His love for each of us should drive out every fear.  Don’t entertain fearful thoughts.  Fill your heart and mind with the Word of God as well as the assurance of God’s love for you, and then your faith will thrive.

These are some of the things that allow God to help you to defeat fear and unbelief.